Canadian TV audiences love that American content
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Can Canadians ever get too much American TV?
While the local television industry struggles to crack our own schedules, Canadian consumers often seem vexed when they can’t see an American show.
Especially after they’ve seen it hyped on entertainment magazines, talk shows or even over the Internet. Canadians, after all, complain every year about not being able to watch American commercials on the Super Bowl broadcast.
The thirst for American fare was demonstrated again this summer when Canada was briefly out of the Betty White loop. The spunky sitcom legend, after a triumphant turn on Saturday Night Live, made a much-hyped weekly TV return last spring on Hot in Cleveland.
For a week or two, no Canadian broadcaster picked up the series. Then CTV came to the rescue and nearly two million viewers flocked to the summer comedy. Its Canadian debut was the seventh most-watched show in the land the first week of July.
Not every pickup of an American show is as rewarding for Canadian networks. While the process of “simulcasting” is generally an automatic way to boost ratings in Canada, picking up shows beyond the U.S. networks is a gamble.
CTV had great luck poaching U.S. cable fare several years ago with The Sopranos and The Osbournes, but found fewer takers a few years later with one of the most acclaimed shows on American TV, Mad Men.
The fourth season of that series returns Sunday night on AMC and AMC alone. While that specialty channel does cross the border, not every Canadian household subscribes to it, a disparity CTV was counting on when they acquired rights. What they found was that people who wanted to see what Don Draper and his ‘60s-era ad men were up to were already AMC subscribers.
Like Mad Men, Damages is another U.S. cable import that has been embraced by critics. The New York-based courtroom drama stars Emmy-winner Glenn Close and featured a star-turn by Canadian-born Martin Short last season.
Damages, however, was never a ratings hit on FX. The U.S. cable network announced it was walking away from the series after three seasons. American satellite provider DirecTV stepped up to offer a fourth and fifth season. The good news for Canadians is that Showcase — which imports the show directly from Sony Television — confirms Damages will remain on their schedule.
One irony is the number of shows shot in Canada that never air in Canada. Covert Affairs, a spy drama currently shooting in Toronto and starring Piper Perabo and Peter Gallagher, premiered earlier this summer exclusively on the USA Network.
Kari Matchett and other Canadian-born talent are in the cast—but can only watch their show if they travel to the United States. Warehouse 13, a Toronto produced drama airing Stateside on Syfy and featuring Canadian-born lead Joanne Kelly, does air in Canada on Rogers’-owned Citytv stations but a week or two after the U.S. premieres.
